Integrating Arts: Cultural Anthropology and Expressive ... · By integrating the arts into social studies, students are introduced to cultural ideals, traditions, and norms inherent

Social Studies Research and Practice

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Volume 9 Number 2 132 Summer 2014

Integrating Arts: Cultural Anthropology and Expressive Culture in the Social

Studies Curriculum

Joyce Burstein

California State University, Northridge

Social studies is the combined study of several disciplines including cultural anthropology where

expressive culture is defined and described. Expressive culture is the processes, emotions, and

ideas bound within the social production of aesthetic forms and performances in everyday life. It

is a way to embody culture and to express culture through sensory experiences such as dance,

music, literature, visual media, and theater. By integrating the arts into social studies, students

are introduced to cultural ideals, traditions, and norms inherent in their own lives. This article

describes the use of cultural anthropology as a vehicle to teach social studies concepts with

visual and performing arts. Two examples of coequal social studies and arts units are examined

in second and sixth grades.

Keywords: cultural anthropology, arts, social studies, integration, expressive culture,

coequal model

Introduction

Culture is one of the National Council of Social Studies’ (NCSS, 2010) 10 major themes

and the most accessible to elementary aged children. Students learn about the world through

interactions with family and their cultural heritage before entering school. Many traditions and

norms are learned through celebrations and are a way for humans to communicate culture

through various art forms. Cultural anthropology is “the study the ordinary experiences of

contemporary people for the purposes of uncovering the patterns, meanings, and social relations

that lie beneath them” (Scheld, 2010, p. 2). In cultural or social anthropology, the arts fit into the

study of expressive culture. Expressive culture is processes, emotions, and ideas bound within

the social production of aesthetic forms and performances in everyday life. It is a way to

embody culture and express culture through sensory experiences such as dance, music, literature,

visual media, and theater. The use of body and voice to create or interpret is the visual-

performing arts.

Historically, visual and performing arts as expression predate formal writing. When

archaeologists discover prehistoric artifacts, many are visual representations such as symbols,

drawings, pottery markings, and jewelry. Early humans left drawings of horses and other animals

in caves in Southern France that are approximately 17,300 years old (Capelo, 2010). Early

Egyptians produced a variety of architectural sites such as the pyramids in Giza and elsewhere in

the country. In the Americas, indigenous tribes painted on caves, rocks, and skins to express

ideas. Many cultures expressed their beliefs and norms through oral storytelling along with

visual art. Others passed down stories through folktales and moral stories that helped preserve

the ideas and traditions of that culture.

People transferred many of their oral traditions and stories into writing. Writing was a

means of communication that not only recorded facts, but also provided shared stories, common

experiences, and tapped into universal themes through poetry and literature. The literary arts

give an additional dimension to communicating feelings and ideas by drawing the reader into a


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specific time period, set of characters, universal plot, or various perspectives. People are

engaged in the literature because they are used to the narrative structures that are told through

oral storytelling.

The visual-performing and literary arts allow people to communicate multiple and varied

perspectives, a valued goal in social studies. The arts provide a way for people to construct

creations showing how they think and view the world. This concept of perspective taking is

important in a well-rounded social studies curriculum. Students who learn history, culture, and

geography from more than one perspective have broadened worldviews. They learn to question

and to analyze from what perspective an event is told (Scheld, 2010). Students who have

integrated social studies and arts experiences have the advantage of learning and creating from

multiple perspectives and in multiple creative forms (Burstein & Knotts, 2010).

The arts convey emotion in a way that transcends other forms of communication. It is a

way for humans to use their bodies to express ideas and emotions, to answer questions, and to

give comfort. When people celebrate life events, it almost always includes music or dance. At

birthday parties or weddings, whether through song or melody, music plays an important role.

Young students sing songs and chants to accompany various movements on the playground. The

arts are inherent to expressing emotions, ideas, and cultural norms in various societies.

Anthropology, specifically expressive culture, provides outlets for creativity and cultural ideals

that give students a glimpse into a time period or person’s life in both a historical and cultural

context.

Why Social Studies and the Arts?

The social studies curriculum is comprised of several social sciences including:

economics, political science, history, cultural anthropology, philosophy, sociology, and

geography (NCSS, 2012). Of those, cultural anthropology lends itself well to the integration of

the arts. Many cultures express their cultural norms through the visual-performing arts allowing

a multifaceted inside view of that culture. Culture, especially visual culture is “inherently

interdisciplinary and increasingly multimodal” (Freedman, 2003, p. 2).

By integrating the visual-performing arts, teachers tap into several strategies to help

students make their own meaning of socio-historical events. As suggested by Chauncey Monte-

Sano (2012), doing historical inquiry sharpens the skills of argumentation both in oral and

written form. Students learn to analyze various primary sources and develop critical thinking

skills that align with common core standards. By using arts strategies in conjunction with

historical inquiry, teachers can encourage open-ended thinking, “risk-taking, critical thinking,

and diligence” (Gullat, 2008, p.14). The use of visuals such as photographs, drawings, paintings,

and architecture, provides images that are instantly accessible and personally engaging giving

students a starting point for discussions in history (Barton, 2001; Card, 2012). Using these

images must coincide with the use of graphic organizers and guiding questions to teach children

how to look at these sources (Barton, 2001). Students are more inclined to engage in the

historical process and have opportunities to increase vocabulary, especially in small group

settings (Barton & Levstik, 2004). Children have the opportunity to ask questions, use academic

vocabulary, and state their hypotheses in a non-threatening environment.

To encourage teachers to use the arts with social studies, the elementary curriculum

should be taught with a multidisciplinary focus rather than piecemeal by subject area or time slot

during the school day. In the real world, concepts and skills are not used as discrete bits of

information but are used as an integrative approach to solving real world problems. Educators


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need to teach and to model these integrative strategies with our children using an approach they

will likely use as adults in the workforce.

As part of a multidisciplinary approach, critical thinking skills are essential in helping

students analyze open-ended problems and situations in the social studies curriculum. The

visual-performing arts help enhance critical thinking skills by providing visual and kinesthetic

problems to consider from multiple vantage points. In the visual arts, several researchers

promote the use of aesthetic and critical inquiry to promote critical thinking (Burton, Horowitz,

& Abeles, 2000; Housen, 2001; Lampert, 2006). One definition of aesthetic inquiry is “the

exploration of medium, ask new questions, notice deeply, imagine alternative solutions to issues

as they arise, try out these solutions, and reflect on what they have done” (Holzer, 2007, p. 2).

While aesthetic inquiry focuses on the exploration of the general nature of art, critical

inquiry is more specific to analyzing one piece of art (Lampert). Both inquiries propose to assist

students in using multiple strategies to solve and to evaluate open-ended problems and to

consider various alternatives and multiple vantage points. When examining the social studies

curriculum, these strategies in the arts are aligned with similar strategies used in social studies

inquiry. Linda Levstik and Keith Barton (2005) advocate using observation, analysis, open-

ended problems, and multiple perspectives in learning history. These skills aligns nicely with the

same skills in aesthetic inquiry that are developed through careful teaching in using primary

source materials such as photographs, artifacts, and documents. Part of historical inquiry is to

help students hone their observational skills, or the ability to look carefully at people, objects,

and settings for clues they can interpret. Through careful comparison of sources, students

engage in critical analysis of a particular event or place. Students compare various artifacts and

perspectives shown in historical sources, which is comparable to what is done with art pieces in

aesthetic inquiry.

Rationale for Integrating Visual-Performing Arts with Social Studies

Drama

Elementary teachers have noted a variety of benefits for their students after using various

art forms to enhance the presentation of social studies curriculum (Burstein & Knotts, 2010 ) .

When students use drama and character portrayal to demonstrate their knowledge and skills, they

develop self-confidence and gain a better understanding of the events they are enacting (Morris,

2001). Researchers also have found the use of melodrama engages students in learning content,

while addressing multiple perspectives, and making historical connections across time and space

(Obenchain & Morris, 2001). This use of drama allows students to engage with major historical

figures representative of the period, as well as gives dramatic voice to the poor, women, and the

disenfranchised in ways that social studies texts do not often provide (Hutton & Burstein, 2008;

Morris, 2001).

Using the dramatic arts is a multi-sensory approach to learning social studies content.

Students must use imagination, risk-taking, and critical thinking with all five senses to create a

character within a historical time period or cultural context. Researchers found, “dramatic

activities provide opportunities to see, hear and create learning opportunities” (Gullat, 2008,

p.19). Students, therefore, are using multiple intelligences to make sense of content. Jennifer

McMaster (1998) describes the benefits of using drama because it employs meta-cognitive

strategies where students use skills such as analysis and evaluation during the acting process.

Using this process to make sense of complicated events such as the American Revolution

provides students multiple ways and perspectives to make meaning of this historic period.


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Music

Many researchers have identified multiple benefits for integrating music into the social

studies curriculum (Elliot, 1995; Kite, 1994; Taylor, 2008; Volk, 1998; Waterbury, 1993).

Teachers use music in the classroom to raise awareness of multiple historical perspectives, and to

enhance understanding of history and culture. Music is multicultural and can be used to compare

cultures across time and place. Consciousness-raising through music about the multiplicity of

culture(s) allows students to value the customs, behaviors, and traditions of others. Using music

in units on Native Americans, slavery, and the Chinese during the Gold Rush brings an

additional context to understanding those particular moments in history from an arts viewpoint.

The use of music, additionally, has been found to enhance student understanding of folktales,

fairytales. Its use, further, has been found as a mechanism to build meaningful context (Kite,

1994).

In addition to raising awareness and providing context, music provides an alternative

communication system for students to express what they know and feel. Multiple sign systems

are alternative modes of communication used to construct meaning about new information

(Berghoff, 1998; Gullat, 2008). When students learn difficult concepts in social studies, music

can provide one pathway to communicate their understanding. Creating and singing a song

about the life of a child during the Gold Rush uses creativity as well as multiple abilities to show

content understanding. In this way, students gain a concrete understanding of what life was like

in an alternate time period and make relevant connections to their daily lives.

Dance

Just as in music, dance employs an alternative communication system by using non-

verbal forms, the human body and facial expressions, to make sense of content. Dance allows

students to express emotions through use of their body while placing themselves in the context of

a character, historical figure, or everyday person. Dance, by nature, is interdisciplinary with the

inclusion of rhythm, movement, music, dramatic arts, and even visual arts through use of line,

shape, and form (Nunn, 2002; Volk, 1998). Students have the opportunity to use the creative

processes while also attaching emotion to situations or events within the social studies

curriculum. By involving one’s intellectual, emotional, and physical senses, the use of dance

makes curriculum come alive in a unique way (Nunn).

While dance is used communicate through the body, it is also multicultural. Every

culture has movement or dance representative of its history or ideals. By learning the dances of

various cultures, students are expressing and practicing how each individual culture comes alive

in physical form (Rovegno & Gregg, 2007). Dance is one more lens students can use to

understand social construction and values within various societies. Using dance and movement

to enact the Westward Expansion, for instance, is one way students can immerse themselves in

content. Students can create dance movements to show the common daily activities of cowboys,

to illustrate how families traveled and survived in wagon trains, and to portray Native Americans

customs in the 1800s. This higher order task embeds social studies concepts in unique and

specific ways (Brouillette, 2010; Holzer, 2009).

Visual Arts

Teachers can use various forms of the visual arts to enhance the teaching of social

studies. The visual arts provide connections to social studies concepts and content standards

through the use of images and concrete objects. Primary sources, artifacts, and hands-on objects

or art has long been seen to enhance student learning by illustrating the stories of individuals and


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groups, offering relevance and context, and asking students to practice the processes of a

historian (Morris, 2000; Raymond & Broderick, 2007). Beyond the text of children’s literature,

well-chosen illustrations can be used to make learning more intriguing and comprehensible to

students (McGowan & Guzzetti, 1991).

The use of the visual arts in studying social studies content is a concrete and explicit tool

for gaining multicultural perspectives. Using the visual art of a particular culture (e.g. masks,

painting, pottery) brings that culture into the classroom in a manner often in direct opposition to

the two dimensional style of the traditional textbook (Grallert, 2009). Having students engage

with the art of a particular people or time period adds an element of context allowing them to see

the people through their own eyes. It is easy to use almost any museum’s website to bring art

into the classroom. Teachers can use two-dimensional reproductions of art from local museum

sites, or reproductions of newspapers, or statuary from recent or ancient times to provide an

opportunity to engage with the art of a period so students might reconstruct what was important

to people of the time. The visual-performing arts are concrete ways to combine the disciplines of

social studies and the humanities to provide meaningful ways to connect concepts.

Testing Theory in the Classroom

Teacher educators strive to make connections between theory and practice for teacher

candidates and classroom teachers. To be authentic, two professors decided to create unit plans

to test out in classrooms. This was not a formal research study; rather, it was a test of practices

used in methods classes. The following two curriculum unit examples are the result of eight

weeks of planning and teaching in two urban classrooms, one 2nd grade and one 6th grade, in the

southwestern United States. The two schools were designated as Title I with 90% of students on

the free or reduced lunch program. These classrooms were highly diverse with 70% Latino, 20%

Asian, 5% Black, and 5% White students. The use of a co-equal integration model was used to

give equal access to social studies and visual-performing arts concepts (Bresler, 1995; Burstein

& Knotts, 2010).

Second Grade: New Year Cultural Celebrations

One of the most powerful concepts taught in social studies is culture. As one of the NCSS

major themes, culture is integrated in all standards. In the primary grades, teachers begin to

teach cultural awareness from several points of view, though they usually begin with the study of

the child’s home culture. In the unit discussed here, the professor chose to focus on New Year’s

celebrations as the major theme. Second grade students examined the traditions of the United

States and China in order to compare and contrast these Western and Eastern holidays around

two types of calendars: Gregorian and Lunar. It was a natural fit to include the arts standards in

historical and cultural contexts in all four arts. In visual arts, the focus was on the artifacts of

celebration and the use of color, line, and form. In music, students analyzed the different types

of music used on New Year’s for tempo, dynamics, and melody. In dance, students identified

different locomotor and non-locomotor movements in the Chinese Lion Dance for the Lunar

New Year. In drama, students identified their own family’s celebration of the holiday and

improvised using pantomime of the main events.

The new unit began by having students participate in an arranged environment where

they explored pictures and artifacts of New Year’s celebrations in centers. After each group

rotated through the centers, students made a chart to identify what they thought they knew about

the subject and to increase motivation and interest. Once background knowledge was noted,

several major concepts emerged to design the content of the unit.


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The first lessons immersed students in their own culture, from their family to the

traditions we celebrated in the United States. We studied the Gregorian calendar and why New

Year’s is celebrated on January 1st. Students interviewed their family about traditions, foods,

artifacts, and songs they used. They created an interview protocol as a class that included

questions about their specific culture such as: “Why do we eat ______ food during New Year?

Why do we clean the house before the holiday? Why do we use firecrackers?” We then made a

chart of commonalities among the class. From this chart, the visual arts, music, and movement

concepts were chosen for development in the unit. For visual arts, students studied commercial

art depicting New Year’s celebrations and analyzed the use of color, line, texture, and form.

They studied the dropping ball from Times Square and how it must have been created using

various materials to create a 3-D form. While students learned about a common artifact of that

holiday, they co-equally learned the elements of visual arts. With music, students listened to

songs from different genres typically associated with the holiday like Auld Lang Syne by the

Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1788). Students learned to sing the melody and analyzed how the

slow tempo coincided with the holiday. Students then connected the music to the dance elements

and found a similar tempo. In groups of four, students improvised slow movements to the tempo

of the song.

After learning about the New Year’s celebration in the United States, students talked

about the Lunar calendar. Several Asian countries celebrate the New Year using the Lunar

calendar. Since many students were Chinese, the unit focused on Chinese New Year. This

holiday is celebrated anywhere from January to February. Students listed the traditions of

cleaning the house, preparing special foods, and trading red envelopes. For the performing arts

portion, the unit focused on the Chinese New Year parade and Lion dance. Using film footage

and photographs, students analyzed the lion puppet for color, line, and shape. Then, they learned

the steps to the dance and studied the tempo and dynamics of the music to show the connections

between the life-sized puppet, the music, and the movement of the dance. Students next created

improvised skits demonstrating what they would do to celebrate Chinese New Year in their own

family based on the information gathered by their family interviews.

Meaningful and co-equal arts integration needs authentic assessments that measure

student learning. This unit used performance-based measures such as demonstrating a dance,

singing a melody, identifying and creating line, color, and shape, and a performance checklist for

the improvisation of their celebrations. The goal for conceptual learning was measured by doing,

not by a paper and pencil assessment. By connecting the theme of culture with the arts

associated in one holiday, children were able to make connections from their own life to that of

others. They learned to use primary sources in the context of their home and classroom.

Students were immersed in the arts of that celebration while learning concepts of culture,

celebration, family, tradition, and national holidays in the social studies. They learned

foundational arts concepts using the elements, improvisation, pathways, leveling, and the

commonalties between music and dance. This unit was a rich and engaging way to co-equally

teach from two disciplines.

Second Grade New Year’s Celebration Unit


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Social Studies Concept/Skill(s):

Culture, tradition, holiday, celebration

Visual- Performing Arts Concept/Skill(s):

Visual- line, color, form, texture, cultural

context

Music- tempo, dynamics, cultural context

Dance- pathways, locomotor movement,

leveling, cultural context

Drama- improvisation, character development

History-Social Science Content

Standard(s):

NCSS Theme: Culture

Identify the difference between primary and

secondary sources.

Use family artifacts and interviews to learn

about a family celebration

Identify and explain how cultural celebrations

are the same or different?

Visual-Performing Arts Content

Standard(s):

Identify and use line, color, form, and texture

in a work of art.

Identify the tempo and dynamics in a piece of

music.

Use different pathways and leveling to

perform a cultural dance.

Use improvisation to relay an idea.

Social Studies Academic Content

Vocabulary:

Holiday, tradition, cultural background,

celebration, interview, artifact

Visual-Performing Arts Academic Content Vocabulary:

Line, color, texture, form, tempo, dynamics,

repetition, space, pathway, leveling,

improvisation

Social Studies Goals (Content knowledge,

research skill, participation skill, critical

thinking skill):

Use Venn diagrams to compare and contrast

cultural celebrations

Participate in cooperative groups by

completing a task as a group.

Identify and explain the difference between

the two calendar systems.

Identify common cultural traditions.

Increase awareness of cross and multicultural

celebrations in your community.

Visual-Performing Arts Goals: (Content

knowledge, art creation skill, participation

skill, critical thinking):

Participate in a group dance.

Create a 3-D art piece.

Compare and contrast two different forms of

art.

Participate in a 2-minute improvisation and

use appropriate facial and body movements.

Compare and contrast the use of dynamics

and tempo in music to the body movements

created in dance (lion dance).

Social Studies Criteria for Assessment

(What and how are you measuring your

goals?):

Venn diagram-compare and contrast holidays

Rubric for paragraph explaining cultural

celebration

Checklist for completing interview

Rubric for paragraph on calendar systems

Checklist for group participation

Visual-Performing Arts Criteria for

Assessment (What and how are you

measuring your goals?):

Rubric for puppet

Rubric for music identification of

tempo/dynamics (singing)

Checklist for dance steps

Checklist for improvisation

Checklist for group participation


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Figure 1: Second Grade New Year’s Celebration Unit: Integration between social studies

and visual-performing arts concepts and skills.

Sixth Grade: Ancient Egypt Unit

The sixth grade curriculum is designed to build a foundation of knowledge about the

different civilizations of the world in both Western and Eastern traditions. The social studies

curriculum is complex because it strives to build conceptual understanding about different

groups of people, and the beginnings of organized social and political order in several

geographic regions. In the Ancient Egypt unit, the focus was on the NCSS themes of power,

authority, and governance tied to artifacts showing how social-political relationships emerged

during this time and in this place. The visual arts are especially powerful in giving students clues

with which to examine art pieces that are primary sources from the period.

The unit began with an examination of several photos of primary source artifacts.

Students observed and analyzed papyri that showed examples of pharaohs. The students first

made observations about the people, artifacts, and clues in the papyri. Some observations made

were the use of color for clothing, body placement, jewelry, and servants. Once students

examined the historical pieces, they analyzed visual arts elements. These elements can help us

understand the messages conveyed by using certain symbols, colors, and placement (use of

space). Students commented that the Egyptians used natural colors like turquoise, black, gold,

and red. These colors could be created by natural resources in ancient Egypt.

Students studied the model of government and leadership of ancient Egypt by reading

texts to supplement the primary source papyri. We studied about the social structure and

development of pharaohs and compared the different reigns of each of the pharaohs from

Akhenaton to Ramses III. Then, students studied the building projects to analyze how the

different philosophies of each leader were portrayed in the architecture. King Ramses was the

Materials needed (Primary sources, books,

photos, artifacts, realia):

Films of lion dance, Chinese New Year

Cut from TV footage of ball dropping

Books on holidays

Artifacts- noisemaker, funny hats etc.

Artifacts from Chinese New Year (red

envelope, dumplings, music, puppet)

Auld Lang Syne

Photographs from both celebrations

Materials Needed (Paint or media, tools,

books, sample art, paper):

Butcher paper

Tempera paint- various colors + gold

Red paper

Props- masks, chop sticks, etc.

CD player with CD’s of Chinese music, Auld

Lang Syne

Streamers

Research (Content knowledge and

strategies):

Use interview skills to interview a family

member

Use photo analysis with photos

Use descriptive sentences to explain an event

Research (Artists, biographies, techniques,

strategies):

Technique- Use of various medium to create a

3D puppet

Research commercial art of New Year


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most prolific builder of tombs and monuments. He encouraged the use of very stylistic

representations whereas his predecessor, Akhenaton, wanted more realistic and natural

representations of himself in statues and monuments. By studying the architecture and visual art

forms, students learned how the philosophy and religious leaning of leaders are represented in

the art forms of the times.

The next part of the unit focused on architecture and the design models used in pyramids.

Students were immersed in reading about the pyramids and learning to read Herodotus’ accounts

of pyramids. We examined photos of pyramids for architectural design. Students worked in

cooperative groups to learn about the different aspects of building the pyramids including the

outside construction, tombs, friezes, and use of hieroglyphics. Building a step pyramid, which

included all elements of a tomb, assessed students’ conceptual understanding. Students studied

the timeline of art forms from Frontalism to the more natural form under King Akhenaton. They

also created historical and artistic timelines that showed the intersection between history and

cultural styles.

Ancient Egyptian artifacts are both historical and artistic evidence of the past so the co-

equal integration of the arts was easily accomplished. While students studied social and political

structure, they were assessed in various arts performances to measure understanding. Students

were engaged in creating the criteria for each assignment so expectations were clear and

frontloaded. Several projects were arts based such as the tableaux, step pyramid, and the

improvisational dance. The concepts of the visual-performing arts were equally included in the

criteria of the rubrics and checklists measuring both historical and cultural understanding.

Students were immersed in the recursive process of reading, examining, analyzing, testing, and

creating as they studied the structure of leadership and society in ancient Egypt.

Sixth Grade Unit on Ancient Egypt

Social Studies Concept/Skill(s):

Power and governance in ancient Egypt

Symbols of power in art and architecture

Laws

Visual- Performing Arts Concept/Skill(s):

3D – form

Architectural design of a pyramid

Symbolism- use of visual arts elements

using body, facial expressions, and gestures to

communicate a message

History-Social Science Content

Standard(s):

NCSS Theme: Power, Authority,

Governance Analyze the social, political, cultural, and

religious structures of early Egypt.

Understand the relationship between religion

and social-political order in Egypt

Visual-Performing Arts Content

Standard(s):

Visual: Symbols in art and architecture

Use of line and shape to convey meaning

3D models- Form created in buildings

Drama: Role play and improvise leadership

Use facial expressions and gesture to

convey meaning

Dance: Translate a visual picture into

movement using various body movements

Social Studies Academic Content

Vocabulary:

Pyramid, obelisk, hieroglyphs, pharaoh,

Visual-Performing Arts Academic Content

Vocabulary:

Pyramid, frieze, sculpture, formal elements,


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vizier, Rosetta Stone, leader, govern, social

hierarchy, Old Kingdom, New Kingdom,

Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, tomb

form,

Characteristics, improvise, tableaux,

pantomime, leveling, isolate, pathways

Social Studies Goals (Content knowledge,

research skill, participation skill, critical

thinking skill):

Examine and analyze primary sources

Compare and contrast sources to create a

historical interpretation

Provide evidence for arguments on

leadership in ancient Egypt

Visual-Performing Arts Goals: (Content

knowledge, art creation skill, participation

skill, critical thinking):

Examine several art pieces for evidence of

leadership-poster

Analyze the symbols, colors, and forms of

Egyptian art.

Create a small scale, 3Dversion of a pyramid

and tomb

Compare and contrast 2 Egyptian pieces of

architecture for theme, materials, and message

Problem-solve in small groups to create a

tableaux

Analyze papyri to create a 16 count dance

Social Studies Criteria for Assessment

(What and how are you measuring your

goals?):

Expository essay – rubric with criteria

Debate- 2 sides pros/cons- checklist for

debate

Oral presentation- rubric

Timeline

Visual-Performing Arts Criteria for

Assessment (What and how are you

measuring your goals?):

Poster- rubric on arts/leadership

Pyramid-rubric

Venn diagram (illustrations/sentences)

Timeline

Rubric

Tableaux- checklist

Rubric for the dance

Materials needed (Primary sources,

books, photos, artifacts, realia):

Photos of Egyptian artifacts, pyramids,

friezes, obelisk, Rosetta Stone

Papyri

Samples of hieroglyphs

Excerpts from Herodotus’ historical account

of Egypt

Picture and chapter books on ancient Egypt

Materials Needed (Paint or media, tools,

books, sample art, paper):

Photos of Egyptian artifacts, pyramids, friezes,

obelisk, Rosetta Stone

Tempera paint

Construction paper

Realia/props for tableaux

CD player

Egyptian music

Sugar cubes

Cardboard

Research (Content knowledge and

strategies):

Use of encyclopedias, websites, trade books

Summarizing

Paraphrase

Understand elements of plagiarism

Research (Artists, biographies, techniques,

strategies):

Rosetta Stone

Great Pyramids, Saqqara

3D construction

History of tableaux- research


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Figure 2: Sixth Grade Unit on Ancient Egypt: Integration between social studies and visual-

performing arts concepts and skills.

Cultural anthropology is an appropriate discipline to use in the elementary social studies

curriculum because expressive culture is inherent to how people live in various places and time

periods. By using historical and aesthetic inquiry, our students were able to conceptualize the

notion of art as created by society. Students further recognized the norms and traditions of

societies are reflected in their art forms. Whether students use drama to pantomime how they

celebrated New Year or analyze how songs relay messages through lyrics, tempo, and melody,

the visual and performing arts are a powerful tool in the social studies classroom. Our student

actively and critically examined visual arts products and primary sources. They communicated

in more than one form to demonstrate what they learned about culture and history. Social studies

teachers strive to make their subject meaningful by enabling students to create their own

interpretations. As John Dewey (1980) stated in Art as Experience, “to perceive, the beholder

must create his own experience. And his experience must include relations comparable to those

which the original producer underwent” (p. 54). Our students did just that. They studied cultural

elements and a historical time period through the arts, viewing the art forms encountered from

multiple perspectives and time periods to create their own meaning. The two curricular

examples provide teachers with a couple of examples of how the visual performing arts can be

co-equally taught with social studies concepts. Processes for historical inquiry are mirrored in

aesthetic inquiry through questioning, research, interpretation, and reflection. These processes

help students learn about their own culture and apply that understanding to diverse cultures

across time and space.

References

Barton, K. (2001). A picture’s worth: Analyzing historical photographs in the elementary grades.

Social Education, 65(5), 278-287.

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Author’s Bio

Joyce H. Burstein is Professor of Social Studies Education at California State University,

Northridge in Southern California, with teaching and research interests in elementary social

studies, arts, and multicultural education. She frequently collaborates and teaches with her

colleague, Dr. Greg Knotts, whom is referenced in this article. She teaches graduate courses in

social studies and arts and works with schools and faculty to promote service learning as the

Director of Community Engagement. E-mail: [email protected]

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/symbols_from_the_sky

mailto:[email protected]

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Integrating Arts: Cultural Anthropology and Expressive ... · By integrating the arts into social studies, students are introduced to cultural ideals, traditions, and norms inherent